Walking in Spiritual Motherhood | Meet Amy Roza

April 29th, 2025 will mark 8 years of Eden Invitation– nearly a decade of stepping out into the wilderness of our current world and Church cultures to support striving disciples with LGBTQ+ experiences. What started with a blog post that felt like a shout into the empty desert has now become a group of pilgrims, people with and without LGBTQ+ experiences seeking to walk together toward the God we long for. One such pilgrim is Amy Roza.

“I read that very first blog Anna posted and I quickly saw EI was meeting a need in the Church. I had to see how I could help.” 

When Amy says “quickly”, she’s not kidding. She emailed Anna and Shannon using the link on their little landing page just 5 days after the blog launched in 2017. 

“In my ministry work and as a counselor, I accompany individuals in the Church in the LGBTQ space and found there were very few resources that actually met their needs” Amy shares.

“What drew me towards Eden Invitation was seeing how they recognize the beloved unrepeatability of each person, and all that holds, including their attractions and desires, and meets them with the radical love of Christ, grounded in our Catholic faith.”

Amy has walked beside our staff and community for the past 8 years as a cheerleader, advocate, and intercessor. She offers her expertise whenever she can– serving on the advisory board for a time, and being a consultant for our programs and volunteer trainings. Amy is best known as a key member of our Retreat Pastoral Team, having been on every EI annual retreat so far.

“I love getting to see people grow over time as they come back to retreat each year.” Amy shares, “From their first retreat, where maybe it’s the first time they’ve ever shared this part of themselves to years later, seeing them thriving and growing as leaders in the community.”

“Just one example– I was able to attend the wedding of two community members, a man and a woman who attended that first retreat. And there were more EI members at that wedding than we had at the first retreat! It was a joy to watch the community celebrate the couple – from the intimate moments of praying over them, to dancing at the reception. This is a community that loves well and celebrates others with gusto!”

While we discuss EI’s values in our community spaces, they aren’t meant just for those with LGBTQ+ experiences. 

“The EI community has loved me well – always receiving me and my own Beloved Unrepeatability with open, grateful hearts.” Amy shares. “They allow me to live out my spiritual motherhood and they celebrate me in my vocation as a Consecrated Virgin.”

Receiving Amy’s life as a Bride of Christ living in the world has been an amazing gift– she is someone who has answered Christ’s call, chosen to seek Him above what the world offers, and to be a gift to the wider Church. In her vocation, she walks in solidarity with those of our community members who also seek to be a gift to the Church as they live chaste single lives. 

“Some community members made the trip to Florida for my Consecration a few years ago. It was a highlight to share my EI family with the rest of my friends and family. They witnessed to the joy of their lives and the beauty of the EI community. And, it probably goes without saying, but they definitely killed it on the dance floor at the reception!”

Growing in friendship and Mutual Belonging, Eden Invitation has become more than just a ministry Amy serves:

“On retreat, as I shared in our small group and had other conversations throughout the weekend, I realized that not only does this community belong to me – I belong to this community. In Eden Invitation, I get to live out my spiritual motherhood most freely and fruitfully. I carry the community in my heart, and joyfully give of myself to them.”

While some people over the years have held people with LGBTQ+ experience at arm’s-length, Amy encourages us to remember we are all pilgrims on the journey, even when that journey is more difficult than we want to admit. 

“Eden Invitation embraces the reality of being a pilgrim. This is a group of people journeying towards Heaven– helping one another as they fall, pointing them back to the God who calls them His Beloved, being in the mess with one another as they struggle, reminding one another to have Hope, that there is joy in the longing.”